132nd Legislature Bill Tracker
The first half of the 132nd Maine Legislature is underway and we’re tracking a number of priority bills related to the Wabanaki Nations. Our Bill Tracker has details on those bills and actions you can take to stand with the Wabanaki. And learn how to submit testimony, contact your legislators, write an LTE, and more in our Legislative Toolkit.
Scroll down to see all of the bills added to the tracker so far, including bills we’ve recently added (☀️), bills with an upcoming public hearing (🎙️) or work session (🧰), and bills with an upcoming vote (⚠️).
Bills with Upcoming Votes
There are no bills with upcoming votes at this time.
HEARINGS & WORK SESSIONS
The bills in this section have public hearings or work sessions scheduled soon.
LD 247, An Act Regarding Recommendations for Changing Place Names in the State
Sponsor: Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland
The Wabanaki Alliance supports this bill.
SUMMARY
This bill establishes the Maine Board on Place Names as an advisory board and requires the board to establish policies and procedures for naming and renaming places and serve as a consultant to the state employee who serves as an unofficial liaison to the United States Department of the Interior, United States Geographical Survey, United States Board on Geographic Names, Domestic Names Committee for the purpose of naming and renaming those places in the State under the jurisdiction of the United States Board on Geographic Names. LD 247 also requires municipal officers and county commissioners to notify and work with the Maine Board on Place Names if a place name in a municipality or unorganized territory is found by the Maine Human Rights Commission to be offensive. The board would be required to submit a report by December 15 of each odd-numbered year on municipalities that have petitioned to name or rename a place, recommendations for changes to existing place names, and recommendations for suggested legislation. That report would go to the joint standing committees of the Legislature having jurisdiction over state and local government; agriculture, conservation and forestry matters; and inland fisheries and wildlife matters. Finally, the bill amends the definition of “place” in the provision of law that prohibits offensive names for places in the State. Read the complete bill text»
🎙️ STATUS: Public hearing Feb. 12
The Committee on State and Local Government will hold a public hearing on LD 247 at 10am, Wednesday, Feb. 12 in Room 214 of the Cross Building.
TAKE ACTION
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- Submit testimony. Follow the steps in the Legislative Toolkit on this page to submit testimony in support of this bill either in writing before the hearing or during the hearing via Zoom or at the State House.
- Contact your legislators. If your legislators sit on this committee, email them and ask them to vote Ought to Pass on LD 247. You can also share your written testimony with your legislators and ask them to support the bill. Find your legislators here.
- Write a letter to the editor. Turn your testimony into a letter to the editor! Find tips and newspaper contact info in our LTE Guide.
- Listen in. If you can’t attend the hearing in person, you can listen in HERE.
LD 14, An Act to Provide Indigenous Peoples Free Access to State Parks
Sponsor: Sen. Craig Hickman (D-Kennebec)
The Wabanaki Alliance supports this bill.
SUMMARY
This bill provides that a citizen of a federally recognized Indian nation, tribe or band in Maine is not required to pay a fee for admission to any state-owned park, historic site, camping area or beach managed by the State. The bill also specifies that to qualify for free admission, a person is required to present a qualifying tribal identification, as approved by the respective tribal government, to the park attendant or other designee of the Director of the Bureau of Parks and Lands within the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. Read the complete bill text»
🎙️ STATUS: Public hearing Feb. 12
The Committee on State and Local Government will hold a public hearing on LD 247 at 10am, Wednesday, Feb. 12 in Room 214 of the Cross Building.
TAKE ACTION
-
- Submit testimony. Follow the steps in the Legislative Toolkit on this page to submit testimony in support of this bill either in writing before the hearing or during the hearing via Zoom or at the State House.
- Contact your legislators. If your legislators sit on this committee, email them and ask them to vote Ought to Pass on LD 14. You can also share your written testimony with your legislators and ask them to support the bill. Find your legislators here.
- Write a letter to the editor. Turn your testimony into a letter to the editor! Find tips and newspaper contact info in our LTE Guide.
- Listen in. If you can’t attend the hearing in person, you can listen in HERE.
BILLS WITH UPCOMING VOTES
These bills have been voted out of committee and will go to the full Legislature for a vote soon.
Legislative Toolkit
Find your legislators
Not sure who your legislators are? Find a list of all your state and federal elected officials HERE. Or visit the Legislature website to find a full list of all Maine Senators and Maine Representatives.
Contact your legislators
Emails and phone calls from constituents are particularly persuasive. Use the link above to find your legislators and their contact info. Call or email them and let them know why you support or oppose a specific piece of legislation. Once you’ve submitted your testimony for a bill (see below), send your legislators a copy!
On the day of a bill vote, call the 1-800 numbers listed below and leave messages with your name and town, your legislators’ names, the bill number you’re calling about, and how you’d like them to vote. Messages are transcribed and delivered to legislators’ desks throughout the day.
Maine House:
1-800-423-2900
Maine Senate:
1-800-423-6900
TTY: Use Maine Relay 711
Submit public testimony
All bills and state agency commissioner nominees are assigned to one of 19 standing joint committees and receive a public hearing. Members of the public can offer testimony in support or opposition to a bill in person or via Zoom during the public hearing or in writing. If you want to testify during the hearing via Zoom, you must register at least 30 minutes before the hearing begins. You do not need to register to testify in person.
To register for Zoom or to submit your testimony in writing, follow these steps:
- Visit the legislative testimony page HERE.
- Select Public hearing
- Select the committee that is hearing the bill
- Select the date and time of the hearing
- Select the appropriate bill number
- To register for Zoom, select “I would like to testify electronically over Zoom.”
- To submit written testimony, upload your file or enter the testimony in the field.
- If you plan to testify in person, you are asked to bring 20 copies of your testimony to distribute to committee members.
You can find committee assignments and public hearing dates and times on the bill’s website. While you can submit testimony at any time and it will be shared with committee members and become part of the public record, only testimony submitted online by midnight on the day of the bill’s public hearing will be included on the bill’s web page.
People with special needs who require accommodations to participate in a hearing should contact the Legislative Information Office as soon as possible by phone (207) 287-1692 or email lio@legislature.maine.gov.
Read our legislative testimony
The Wabanaki Alliance often submits legislative testimony in support of or opposition to bills before the Maine Legislature and the U.S. Congress. Read our testimony on our Legislative Testimony page.
Write a letter to the editor
Once you’ve written your testimony, turn it into a letter to the editor! Find tips on writing letters and a list of newspaper contact info in our LTE Guide.
Legislative Scorecards
Find priority bills from previous legislative sessions and see how your legislators ranked on Wabanaki Alliance priority issues:
Other calls to action
Find actions on Wabanaki Alliance priority federal and state legislation and other issues on our Take Action page.